As we enter 2025 at a tumultuous time, it is easy to lose sight of the bigger picture, and of what is required from all of us to create a world that works for all. In the Declaration on Future Generations adopted at the United Nations (UN) Summit of the Future in September 2024, member states resolved to ensure that present generations act with responsibility towards safeguarding the needs and interests of future generations when devising policies and programs. They called for the promotion of long-term intergenerational thinking across the UN system, including through the development of diverse capabilities such as anticipatory planning, foresight and futures literacy. 

In essence, the Declaration encourages present-day decision-makers at the national and international levels to be good ancestors to those that follow. Much has been written about how to be a good ancestor and how to lead a life with many generations down the line in mind.

Good ancestors tend to systematically concern themselves with rendering selfless services to generations they will never know. They are keen to ensure that the choices they make today don’t bequeath to the unborn strangers of the future the burdens that their own ancestors’ choices saddled them with. In so doing, they take responsibility for undoing their ancestors’ mistakes. They endeavor not to colonize the future by exporting to it systems and paradigms that are at the origin of many of the ills afflicting humanity and the planet in the present. Among these are economic orthodoxies that justify stealing the future in order to sell it in the present in pursuit of divine profit. They also ensure that the future is not saddled with patriarchal and hierarchal norms and structures that perpetuate oppression and exploitation across various spheres of life. Just as they need to ensure that current technological advances and online spaces do not knowingly erode the mental health of children who are the youngest living ancestors to future generations.

Striving to prioritize the well-being of future generations may sound utopic for people laboring under the tyranny of the urgent. It may even be perceived as a reckless prescription by those who stand to lose from letting go of the very systems and structures that sustain their vested interests.

The above notwithstanding, some UN entities such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN agency on human rights (UNHCR) have embraced anticipatory, long-term thinking to build just futures for all. Organizations such as the Elders have also called for long-view leadership that delivers solutions to both current and future generations.

Additional Pathways to Develop Good Ancestorship

Good ancestorship is not an end in itself—it is a process of exercising leadership in times of radical uncertainty. It is not the sole preserve of older generations. It is intergenerational. If properly nurtured through intentional, unitive practices, it could become an overarching framework towards operationalizing some of the principles and commitments of the UN Declaration on Future Generations.

In addition to developing a legacy mindset and long-term governance skills, aspiring trustees of generations to come could benefit from considering the following additional values, insights, qualities and actions. Some of these have been outlined above and can be found in the constituent text of the civil society-led ImPACT Coalition for Future Generations. Others are enshrined in the wellbeing of future generations Act in Wales which established a statutory Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, whose role is to act as a guardian for the interests of future generations in Wales. Still others may be on the agenda of the soon-to-be appointed UN Envoy for Future Generations who will probably be encouraged to draw inspiration from the work of the UN Futures Lab Network.

Cultivate a longer “now”
A longer now involves reframing our relationship to time and recognizing that the precise moment we’re in grows out of the past and is a seed for the future. A “now” for the long-term mindset involves abandoning the tyranny of the present over the future and reframing time as a continuous, interconnected experience rather than a linear progression. Seen through this longer term lens, the future is imagined as an intergenerational, common public good which encourages and empowers us to extend our empathy to the lives of seven generations down the line. Cultivating a longer now also allows good ancestors to live and work on the leading edges of systems rather than in the center where they risk being coopted and thus distracted from articulating and acting on what we owe the generations of the future.

Build futures literacy skills
Disrupting our linear understanding of the present as a way of exercising good ancestorship is more than a mindset. It is a skill that could be developed through Futures Thinking training and development. Futures thinking is not about predicting the future for the purpose of planning and adaptation. It is about leveraging the potential of alternative and emergent futures as a means of expanding what can be done in the present to fashion a world for future generations to thrive.

Weave ecological consciousness
Future generations are granted no political rights or representation. They are not here to protest the burning of fossil fuels or the poisoning of oceans. Good ancestors need to ensure that future generations inherit a world where the balance between human activity and planetary health is restored and enriched. The current generation will not have peace unless they declare Earth resources already under severe threats as common inheritance to all peoples present and future.

Empower change
Moving from “what if” to “what must be” inspires communities to move beyond hypothetical scenarios by rooting them in the emergent present. It entails envisioning a future that inspires and empowers people to transcend limiting beliefs. It also entails supporting intergenerational learning and nurturing innovations in the present that drive meaningful societal change for the benefit of those inheriting the future.

Exercise steward leadership
This requires understanding that a leader’s power is derived from their constituents, in service to them. Guarding against using entrusted power to dominate is critical. Entrusted power pulls into focus ethical decision-making and positive long-term impact. Steward leadership promotes transparency, sustainability, and wholistic well-being, co-creating a just and equitable world for future generations.

Build a meaningful relationship with our elders
There is an abundance of wisdom available to us if we are willing to listen or ask. Taking the time to learn from those who have experienced this world many times over will help the current generation avoid perpetuating the errors of their ancestors. The wisdom of indigenous elders in particular can help us put into perspective the existential dilemmas facing humanity in these times of radical disruptions and potential pathways to regeneration.

Transcend the illusion of separation
Recognize that humanity is under the spell of the collective dis-ease or disharmony that the scourge of separation has left in its wake. The long-held belief in separation has created divides within ourselves and between us and Nature. This outdated and unsustainable mindset based on scarcity and extractive pathologies cannot serve as a foundation for building a prosperous future for all. An evolutionary leap towards a realization of unity and interconnectedness is therefore vital for nurturing actions that enable the crossing of thresholds from a stressed present at the end of its tether towards an emergent future fit for those not yet born.

Heal multi-generational trauma
As good ancestors, we need to heal the multigenerational legacies of traumas caused by ongoing wars and by historical wrongs that have decimated peoples and desecrated their lands.

This involves establishing safe spaces where blame and shame can be honestly expressed and met with compassion and reconciliation. These are spaces where intergenerational communities across genders engage in restorative practices to “re-pair” what has been “dis-repaired” and pave the way for the emergence of a world built on forgiveness, empathy, and resilience. Making peace with past hurts and composting with humility their painful legacies can be harnessed as additional components of any futures-oriented learning experiences that put a premium on relational and communal well-being across generations.

Join forces with others
Joining forces with like-minded and like-hearted planetary citizens committed to creating a thriving, regenerative world is critical. This is more so in periods of “national egocentrism.” When they coalesce across generations, these citizens catalyze authentic hope and enact transformative change, ensuring a vibrant future for generations to come.

A Final Encouragement

The above suggestions are offered as mere pointers for those who, regardless of age and gender, wish to lead from the future that unborn generations deserve. Should they lose their way, this message from the children of Earth’s tomorrow and the poem below crafted by two of the authors are offered as additional compasses for the journey of hope ahead of us.

The Good Ancestor

For heirs unknown, our steps shall now show,
The paths we have walked, and where dreams can grow.
In every choice, our futures unfold
It is in our hands, that stories are told

In the silent spaces of what could be,
Lie the deep truths of our lived legacy.
With compassion as our compass, and justice our guide,
We chart a true course where hope cannot hide.

This world, tired and worn in its sad silent weep,
Seeks bold, knowing hands for a transformative leap.
Compassion for systems now in their fall,
Calls us, brave hearts, to reimagine them all.

Jude Currivan is a cosmologist, futurist and author. Youssef Mahmoud is a senior adviser at the International Peace Institute. Grant Storry is an entrepreneur combining technology, spirituality, and human values.